I don't exactly know this for a fact, but it feels like the media have trained themselves to ignore that Trump is always crowdsourcing violence. He has been from the very beginning. The wouldbe gunman, Taylor Taranto, said he chose the school because it was close to the home of Rep. Jamie Raskin. Ponder that.
It doesn't take some wild leap to recall Cesar Sayoc, who sent improvised pipe bomb-like things to the journalists and political figures he believed to be on Trump's hitlist. Or maybe this reminds you of the Pelosi home invasion. Or because this violent individual was also a part of the 1/6 insurrection, it can't help but remind you of those fools for Trump, doing his dirty work.
And some of them, at least over 170 of them, said they were specifically there doing what they did because Trump told them to. We aren't new to Trump threatening violence against political figures he is at odds with, and them facing real death threats and death plots, or his promoting the idea that his minions should engage in civil war. It can't escape us that what he has been doing is broadcasting or open source enlisting stochastic terrorism through his social media at his prosecutors--openly trying to interfere with the legitimate legal cases against him. He uses Truth Social to direct his ire at Jack Smith--but also the man's family.
Trump doesn't have to be explicit--but in a way he is, or at least, enough that you can know exactly what he's trying to do here. He wants his fan club to go wild, the way they did January 6th. And you know, he doesn't always pay his lawyers, so why is he paying hitmen if he could get someone to do it for free? (#cheapcapo.)
One reason why it doesn't get any more attention is Republicans have created a permission structure for their embrace of violence, but admitting that ONE SIDE has done so destroys the "both sides" narrative that the mainstream media has depended on to create an appearance of objectivity (real objectivity is reporting the facts--it isn't partisan to do it, and it benefits the GOP to ignore what they have become).
In the aggrieved mind of the Trump vigilante, Trump has done no wrong and must be rescued, In the real world, Trump is in deep shit because he planned a coup to keep his nefarious ass in office, and he failed. He pushed his plea to have Republican governors and legislatures and his false electors steal the election on his behalf, even knowing he had lost. He raised money on this Big Lie. He caused violence based on this Big Lie by way of incitement. How explicit did he need to be in all of this? He strongarmed election officials and spread lies and had his personal lawyer spread lies about election workers. He should pay for that abuse of power.
I think it can be demonstrated that he doesn't have to be particularly specific because he has groomed, you might say, or conditioned his people to respond with violence, to believe it is correct to do so, to feel they will be pardoned or given a pass. His Freedom Caucus friends in Congress seem shocked! That so many 1/6 participants are being treated like absolute criminals for simply breaking and entering, assaulting cops, vandalism, and the like--you know, crimes. And this is especially why it is necessary that they should not get off lightly.
There must be public discouragement, and public unfucking of the public mind regarding the facts of Trump's loss. It should be understood that he still sees the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and other radicalized people as his makeshift mercs. Or as Steve Bannon might put it: shock troops. You know, paramilitaries under only his purview.
And somehow, there must be a way to convey that Trump is no one someone should risk catching a case for. He is played out, and his players are playing themselves if they go along with his criminal suggestions. He won't save them.
I'm not sure how that happens. I'm sure he'd only squeal louder in the event of an actual gag order or restriction. But it's worth entertaining on the basis of the damage he's already done with his fat mouth.
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